Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Has $1.92 Million Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 15.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 48,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,357 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $1,922,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 1.7% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 16,916 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $750,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 59.1% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 320 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 5,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $205,000 after buying an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 33.0% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 329 shares during the period. Finally, Essex Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 5,819 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $231,000 after buying an additional 340 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on FE. KeyCorp decreased their target price on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.33.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 0.0 %

FirstEnergy stock opened at $39.84 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $39.92 and a 200-day moving average of $41.42. The company has a market cap of $22.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48. FirstEnergy Corp. has a one year low of $36.81 and a one year high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. On average, equities analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.27%. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

FirstEnergy Profile

FirstEnergy Corp., through its subsidiaries, generates, transmits, and distributes electricity in the United States. It operates through Regulated Distribution and Regulated Transmission segments. The company owns and operates coal-fired, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, and solar power generating facilities.